Provision 10

Nursing organizations work in solidarity as the collective voice of nursing to challenge and mitigate harms that threaten human or environmental life, health, and well-being. Nursing has a role in a world fraught with conflict, inequality, terror, racism, tribalism, crime, and injustice. The combined voice of millions of nurses, nationally and internationally, is a formidable force for change. To that end, nursing organizations and nurses work to strengthen nursing as a united voice of knowledge, experience, expertise, and global healing.

Nursing is a necessary voice to advance the centrality of caring to human and environmental life and to claim its crucial place at the center of social and political life. Immense global issues such as genocide and racial hatred, displaced persons and refugees, human trafficking, war and war crimes, political damage to social safety nets; and economic policies that disadvantage less-wealthy nations; affect health and fall within the purview of nursing’s ethical concern. These are persistent and seemingly intractable issues that profoundly affect health and well-being and require a transnational, engaged nursing voice that is prepared to speak and act in concert.

Globally, nurses represent and embrace the full spectrum of human plurality, diversity, cultures, traditions, languages and more. Nevertheless, nurses share in a concern for health and well-being that is the basis for unity-in-diversity and solidarity of voice. Nursing is positioned to pursue expert, evidence-based and ethically-informed care as a core value among the competing values that affect international relations. Care ought not be relegated solely to the domain of individuals and families. Nursing and nurses have a collective obligation to pursue care as a political and social requirement to be shared by all.